Charity

The Charity Commission is not the “all-powerful regulator of its sector”, according to the Conservative peer who conducted a review of the Charities Act 2006. Speaking in a House of Lords debate of latest Charities Bill, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts said he had a “really serious concern” about the new legislation. Hodgson said the

Trustees of major charities could find themselves held personally liable for accounting errors under proposed government audit reforms.  A government white paper called Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance, which was published in March, sets out proposals designed to strengthen the UK’s framework for major companies and the way they are audited. The paper puts

Scotland’s First Minister has been among those to pay tribute to the executive director of the women’s equality charity Engender, who died last week aged 44. Emma Ritch, who had worked at the charity for more than 13 years, died suddenly on Friday, a statement from Engender said. It is understood she died at home

Two consultants have pulled out of a Unicef UK project after accusing the charity of institutional racism. Fifa Rahman and Rachael Crockett said in a statement on social media that they had withdrawn from a project on health systems strengthening because of hurdles “grounded in institutional racism, including racist language and the contention of Unicef

British Columbia, Canada – PebblePad has today announced that it has been chosen by BCNET, a not-for-profit, shared services organization in British Columbia, Canada as a preferred learning technology provider for their education members across the province. This landmark partnership will mean that universities, colleges and institutes across British Columbia will have easy access to

Five large charities have launched an initiative designed to make payroll giving more accessible and encourage more people to take part.  The collaboration between Barnardo’s, Crisis, The Royal British Legion, RNIB and WaterAid will take the form of an independent business, called WeAreGoodGiving, which is wholly owned by the five charities.  Payroll giving enables workers to nominate

A London-based domestic violence charity has described allegations of racism made by current and former staff members as “defamatory and untrue” after they appeared on The Independent website.  Allegations of “institutional racism and gaslighting” and a “harmful culture” at Solace Women’s Aid were first made in an open letter, published on Twitter on Saturday, purportedly from

A man who stole £57,000 of charitable donations meant to help children with disabilities or serious illnesses has been jailed for more than two years.  Scott Wright, 45 and of Hengrove, Bristol, admitted spending the funds from the Darren Wright Foundation, which he ran.  Last week at Bristol Crown Court he was sentenced to 28

The UK’s national accounts do not account for the contribution of charities or the millions of volunteer hours provided by people around the UK each week, economists have said.  Research by the charity think tank Pro Bono Economics shows that the national accounts – the statistics that describe the size and nature of the UK’s

A former gardener at a National Trust property has been awarded nearly £50,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal, harassment and discrimination. A tribunal ruling published this week shows that employment judges were unanimous in their decision that Claire Bryant was constructively unfairly dismissed by the charity. The tribunal, at Ashford, Kent, upheld complaints of direct

A grant-maker that supports young people is urging Ealing Council to rethink plans to demolish one of only three youth centres in the borough. The John Lyon’s Charity said it had reached out to the local authority and asked it to consider the devastating effect on the community if the Young Adult Centre in Southall

Working in a user-centred way will allow charities to create greater impact, according to Samir Patel, chief executive of Comic Relief. Speaking at the think tank NPC’s virtual summer reception yesterday, Patel said user-centred working should be viewed as a philosophy, rather than something that charities needed an incentive to do. Patel, who joined the

The homelessness charity Emmaus UK has appointed Charlotte Talbott as its next chief executive. Talbott will succeed Simon Grainge, who stepped down at the end of May after five years in the role, saying it was the right time to move on. Talbott has spent the past four years at the homelessness charity The Connection

The Charity Commission has apologised to a whistleblowing charity after a review found aspects of its compliance case “disproportionate” and identified a number of other shortcomings. In April 2019, trustees of Compassion in Care made a complaint to the regulator about its handling of the case relating to the charity’s governance.  The charity, which was

The transgender young people’s support charity Mermaids has been fined £25,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office after personal information relating to 550 people was available online for almost three years. The regulator also concluded that the charity had a “negligent approach towards data protection with inadequate policies and a lack of training for staff”. The

A football charity has been told to pay almost £14,000 to a former employee after an employment tribunal ruled he had been victimised.  An employment tribunal ruling published this week shows that Colchester United’s Football in the Community charity was ordered to pay Mark Harris, a former community development officer at the charity, a total

The Daily Mail has agreed to pay £15,000 plus legal costs to a Muslim charity it falsely accused of colluding with people smugglers. It is the second title to make a payment to the humanitarian charity the Al-Khair Foundation in relation to articles published in December about Somali migrants trying to reach Europe. In April,

A Christian charity is being examined by the Charity Commission after material on its website was unearthed that promotes misogynistic messages, including blaming women for rape. The National Secular Society said it had raised concerns about the Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide Europe, also known as Horemow Europe, with the Charity Commission in June. The NSS,

The hearing loss charity RNID has sold off its care and support services to a private care provider in a move that will transfer almost 600 staff from the charity.  The RNID first mooted plans to sell off its care services at the end of 2019 after it revealed it wanted to pay off its debts

Max Woosey, the 11-year-old who has been sleeping in a tent for more than a year to raise funds for North Devon Hospice, will sleep out at London Zoo to raise awareness of an annual fundraiser for Action for Children.  Action for Children said it had arranged for Woosey to pitch his tent near the

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution had defended its actions from accusations that is has become “a taxi service for illegal immigration”. The search and rescue charity drew criticism over the weekend after some newspapers published images of its lifeboats returning from saving people who had been attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK.

The Salvation Army has been the subject of a ransomware attack.  The charity declined to give precise details on the nature and extent of the incident but said it had reported the matter to the Charity Commission and the Information Commissioner’s Office, indicating that data might have been stolen.  One data security expert said anyone

The winners of the 2021 Purpose Awards have been announced.  The awards, which are run by Third Sector and sister titles PRWeek and Campaign, recognise campaigns that use creative ideas successfully to further positive causes, and acknowledge the organisations behind them. The Climate Store by Prime Weber Shandwick for Felix won a hattrick of awards,

The National Theatre managed to increase its spending on charitable activities by £10m in 2019/20, despite subsequently having to make 150 redundancies as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. According to its latest accounts for the year to the end of March 2020, the charity completed a restructure in October last year that resulted in

The National Lottery Community Fund has declined to comment on the government commissioning a conflict management firm to examine the grant-maker’s working practices and culture. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has hired CMP Resolutions to conduct an inquiry into the leadership and organisational culture at the grant-giver, Third Sector understands. In March,

The National Trust has asked for a retraction and complained to the press regulator after The Spectator magazine published an article containing what the charity said were “plain ludicrous” allegations. An article headlined “‘Fear and bullying’ at the National Trust” (£), by Charles Moore, was published in the weekly magazine yesterday containing a number of

Youth charities can apply for up to £50,000 from a £1.4m fund to help them reopen and bring their services back to pre-pandemic levels.  The funding is being provided by the Julia & Hans Rausing Trust in partnership with UK Youth. The fund aims to ensure that grassroots youth organisations that have suffered due to

The Metropolitan Police have been accused of acting “unlawfully” after a number of employees were arrested at the arts and architecture charity Antepavilion.  The charity offers studio and art exhibition display spaces, as well as occasional event and performance space, from a mixed-used building in Hackney, north-east London. The building also includes residential units.  Two

A new £50m fund will support black and minoritised community charities and grassroots groups in England to receive funding and support that has previously been difficult for them to access.  The Phoenix Way is being run by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Ubele Initiative, which is an African diaspora-led social enterprise that aims to build

A more frequent revaluation of business rates could be beneficial and provide cost savings to charities in England, membership bodies have said.  The government yesterday unveiled proposals that it said would make the business rates system fairer and more streamlined with more frequent property revaluations. Under the plans, revaluations of non-domestic properties would take place